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Is Dora the Explorer Evil?
Hooking kids on cartoons — a Flashback post
I’m shopping with my toddler daughter. She needs dress shoes for a party, but is fixated on a pair of Dora the Explorer sneakers. I ask her to put them back. Usually she complies, but not this time. She’s cuddling the shoes like they’re a favorite doll.
It’s the first time she’s expressed a strong desire for anything in a shop — and the first time she’s seen Dora — and so I do something really foolish. I buy the shoes.
A week later, I do something even more foolish. I let her watch “Dora the Explorer”.
Like other well-meaning parents, I figured Dora was the lesser of a lot of evils on TV. Dora is outdoorsy and resourceful and bilingual. She’s always on an adventure. She figures things out.
The problem is that Dora is totally addictive and my child, who never cared for watching programs at all, won’t stop clamouring for more Dora. Even when we’re going to the park or she’s playing with her beloved father she’ll point upstairs and demand: “Dohwah!”
At first I thought it might be her age. TV is more appealing once kids turn two. But that’s not it. Other programs don’t turn her into a zombie who ignores everyone else in a room.
